The only reason the Crawford fight is PPV is HBO lowered their budget enough to where they can't afford it on regular HBO. Agreed though. It's a good fight, but he's just not ready for PPV yet.
Golden Boy sources told Rafael the fight did "slightly less than 600k" PPV buys, which is much better but still not great overall. At some point, boxing really needs to take a look in the mirror and decide whether PPV is still a viable avenue as they currently use it. Like Powe said, there just aren't many PPV quality fights out there, and the ones that are get watered down by fans having to pay $60 for Manny-Bradley III or Crawford-Postol. If boxing uses PPV for non-elite fights, they've got to price more of them at $29-$39. Every fight being $50-$70 just isn't going to work.
Dan Rafael @danrafaelespn Two sources with knowledge of test have told ESPN that Povetkin tested positive for meldonium with title fight vs Wilder a week away.
Same thing Sharapova got popped for. How Povetkin thought he would use and not get caught when VADA is testing for the fight is beyond me.
It seems to be a thing with Russian athletes. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...istratov-kulizhnikov-markin-lovchev/81478876/ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/sports/international/meldonium-russia-drug-doping-hockey.html http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/latest-report-details-russian-urine-tests-swaps-39071986 And that's just recently.
Holy shit. Vegas opened odds on GGG/Canelo and they have Golovkin -400. I love GGG but with those odds id be all over Canelo
I believe GGG already said he wasn't. I like both so I hope he stands his grown and doesn't go down. I have no desire to see Canelo get the shit beat out of him.
Call me old fashioned, but the battle for the lineal middleweight championship of the world should happen at the actual weight of the middleweight division.
Deontay Wilder-Alexander Povetkin title fight postponed http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...der-alexander-povetkin-fight-failed-drug-test
Dan RafaelESPN Senior Writer Canelo Alvarez announced today that he has vacated the WBC middleweight title but still wants to fight GGG. He said that he vacated because he would not negotiate under the deadline pressure with a purse bid ordered for Tuesday. GGG will become the WBC's titleholder with his interim tag being removed.
Brian CampbellESPN.com Despite vacating his middleweight title, Canelo Alvarez says he has instructed his promoter, Golden Boy, to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady Golovkin. "For the entirety of my career, I have taken the fights that no one wanted because I fear no man. Never has that been more true than today. I will fight ‘GGG,' and I will beat ‘GGG' but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines," Alvarez said in a statement.
We've got a Showtime card tonight at 9 ET. SHO, 9:00 p.m. ET, Erislandy Lara vs Vanes Martirosyan, Jermall Charlo vs Austin Trout, Jermell Charlo vs John Jackson. This 154-pound tripleheader is a good one, with three world title fights. Well, it's a good one in terms of it being significant. The in-ring action may be another story. The first Lara-Martirosyan fight in 2012 was not a beauty, to say the least, ending in a technical draw after nine rounds. This is for Lara's WBA title. Jermall Charlo will defend his IBF belt against former titleholder Austin Trout, and Jermell Charlo faces John Jackson for the vacant WBC title.
That was a strange end. Felt bad for Jackson :( fought well and then was just stunned standing up, weird.
Guessing he has more power than it seems, because I was just begging the Armenian to get in there and pound on him in the corner, especially to the body... But, he just couldn't/ wouldn't commit to it and that became frustrating as hell.
He's got plenty of power, he just never uses it. It's the same frustrations that we go through with every Cuban star. Athletic, strong, great footwork and power, but they're just content to box, punch just enough to win rounds and earn ugly decision victories.
This is a thing tonight: CBS Sports Network, 10:30 p.m. ET, Shane Mosley vs David Avanesyan. There's no co-feature signed yet for this show, and, well, who knows if there will actually be one? But Mosley is here, and he's fighting for the interim WBA welterweight title against Avanesyan, a guy who may have the ability to beat a 44-year-old Sugar Shane if, in fact, Mosley is washed up. But if Mosley can turn back the clock to even 2009 levels, he may prove too much. And really, if Mosley is going to seriously pursue the top levels again (and he is), this is a perfect fight. Avanesyan is skilled enough to make him look bad if he's really done, but not a big puncher. The winner will face the Thurman-Porter winner for the official and full WBA title.
Keith Thurman: 'June 25, my friend is about to become my enemy' Apr 27, 2016 Dan RafaelESPN Senior Writer Email print comment Welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman and former titlist Shawn Porter go way back with each other, to their amateur days. But friends are now foes, and the stakes are very high as Thurman and Porter get ready to face each other in one of the most anticipated fights of the year on June 25 (CBS, 9 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. "Our two teams go way back," Thurman said Tuesday at the kickoff news conference in New York. "This is the most beautiful moment of my professional career, and I'm about to compete with somebody I grew up with. I'm happy for my success, and I'm happy for Shawn's success. "We come from the same boat. When you're a young kid in the gym training, and then you're here today, that takes a special kind of person. Shawn and I are both that kind of person." Despite their friendship and respect for each other, Thurman mixed in some smack talk to get the juices flowing. Welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman and former titlist Shawn Porter have been friendly for years, but as Thurman's trainer, Dan Birmingham, said: "Sometimes you have to fight your friends." Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images "June 25, my friend is about to become my enemy," Thurman said. "I'm going to treat him like any other enemy. Get your tickets. Get your seats. Get your popcorn. Whatever you need to do. This is going to be a fight you don't want to miss. This is going to be a knockout you don't want to miss. I love you, Shawn, but I'm doing my best to put you to sleep." Porter kept his cool in the face of Thurman's predictions. He said he expected it. "Keith Thurman is bringing out the competitiveness in me to a level I've always wanted," Porter said. "It's a level I expect. I have a guy next to me who is challenging me more than ever. Me and Keith Thurman are going to put on a show. Everything you talked about, you're going to get it. "I wasn't surprised that Keith said he would knock me out. He has to pump himself up and be confident. When he looked at me, I think he was trying to convince me that he was being real, and I was looking at him to find out if he was convinced. He thinks he's going to knock me out, I say he's not. I'm going to do everything it takes to beat him and make it look easy." Thurman and Porter aren't the only friends in this matchup. So are Dan Birmingham, Thurman's trainer, and Kenny Porter, Shawn's father and trainer. "We're looking forward to this fight," Birmingham said. "Me, Keith and the Porters go way back, but sometimes you have to fight your friends. These two guys are both at the top of their games, and the best man is going to win." Kenny Porter credits Birmingham with being one of the people who helped him become a trainer, and now he is going against him. "Dan Birmingham is actually one of my mentors, and I've been watching Keith since he was 14 years old," Kenny Porter said. "We're all friends, but to have the opportunity on this stage, I don't think we can have better competitors as fighter and trainer. I don't think it can reach a higher level. I fully expect the immovable object versus the irresistible force meeting in the ring for an explosion on June 25." "This is the best that boxing has to offer. Keith Thurman versus Shawn Porter could very well be the fight of the year. It's a fan fight that everybody has anticipated for many years." Promoter Lou DiBella Lou DiBella, who is promoting the card, echoed the thoughts of so many involved in the event when he said it was great for boxing that such a noteworthy fight, part of the Premier Boxing Champions series, will be available to fans for free on network television. "This is the best that boxing has to offer," said DiBella, noting that the fight is the fastest-selling boxing event Barclays Center has hosted so far. "Keith Thurman versus Shawn Porter could very well be the fight of the year. It's a fan fight that everybody has anticipated for many years. These are the two most established welterweights in the world battling to see who the successor to Floyd Mayweather's domination of the division is. "Aside from being two of the very best at their weight class, these are two of the more interesting guys in boxing. These are two of the smartest and most cerebral fighters. This is why I'm in boxing. This is why we're all in boxing. This is on national, free, over-the-air television, and I think it's great. We want as many people as possible to watch this fight. We want to expose people to the best our sport has to offer." Raising the anticipation level for the fight is the fact that it has been delayed. The fight was originally scheduled to take place on March 12, but was postponed when Thurman was involved in a one-car wreck in late February and suffered whiplash. Thurman took time off and is now ready to go. "I made you wait. But it's worth it," Thurman said. "This is a tremendous fight, arguably the best matchup of the year. We're going to work our butts off to make it the fight of the year. "We took six weeks off after my accident, with three days a week of physical therapy. I was relaxing at home. I didn't like it. As a fighter, I wanted this fight as bad as the fans wanted this fight." Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs), 27, of Clearwater, Florida, will be making his third 147-pound title defense. Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs), 28, who is based on Las Vegas, will be seeking to win his third consecutive fight since losing his world title by decision to Kell Brook in August 2014. Porter is coming off an upset decision win against Adrien Broner in June. In the co-feature, Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs), 29, of Argentina, will defend his secondary featherweight world title for the third time when he faces Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), 30, a Los Angeles-based Mexican who is a former three-division titleholder.
it's interesting. I can't gauge how powerful Porter is though? Porter might out work him. any combination of Porter, GGG, Thurman, Wilder, Errol Spence, and Canelo has me opening my wallet though.